Almost six years ago, Sister Mary accepted Sister Marya's invitation to bring the Earth Hope Cosmology program to the women at Rikers Island Jail. Upon her return home to NYC, Mary began to rewrite the curriculum in simpler language.

She devised creative ways to bring the gift of peaceful music into the lives of women in the Intensive Therapy Unit. She created "gentle stretching exercises" the women could do regardless of any physical limitations. She helped them make cards for their children during the art segment of the course. And, she began to teach the Story of the Universe to abused women who never imagined themselves made of stardust!

Mary delighted in telling me how their eyes lit up as they learned this.

Since then, Mary helped train others to use the program in Billings, MT, St. Louis, MO, and NYC.

Mary now sparkles among the stars and we miss her very much. Incarcerated women continue to glow with new-found self-esteem as the Story of the Universe makes its way into their minds and hearts, taught by teachers trained by Sister Mary. The journey doesn't end with death, only deepens into new forms of life.